Cap



March 22, 1955 B. GELLMAN 2,704,367

CAP

Filed March so, 1950 Inventor 6 y'amin Gellman United States Patent CAP Benjamin Gellman, Chicago, Ill.

Application March 30, 1950, Serial No. 152,836

1 Claim. (Cl. 2-199) This invention relates to caps of the type provided with ear mufls.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide means for securing ear mulfs to a cap in such a manner as to permit swinging of the ear muffs from a position of use to a position of non-use and to permit adjustment of the ear mufis towards and from one another as may be necessary to accommodate different ear spacings.

Heretofore the adjustability of ear mulfs to bring them closer .together or farther apart has been obtained by mounting the ear muffs on two relatively slidable steel bands that are located in a seam within the cap and extend around the back of the head of the wearer. This is objectionable because it renders the back of the cap stiff. Also it increases the cost of the cap and the tendency to tear the cap. 'It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a cap of the above mentioned character with a pair of separate ear muff holding brackets that are separately secured to the cap in proper locations. On each of these brackets an ear muff is adjustably mounted to permit adjustment to a limited degree forward and backward of the wearer as well as to permit swinging of the ear muffs to alternate positions, one of which is the position of use and the other of which is the position of non-use of the ear muffs. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an improved means for mounting an ear muff on a cap wherein the ear muff, whether adjustable or nonadjustable as to size, is nevertheless indeepndent of the mounting of the opposite ear mufi and does not require a stiff metal band extending across the back of the head of the wearer.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cap embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of a fragmentary portion of the cap of Figure l where an ear mufi is to be positioned;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3--3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view corresponding to Figure 3 with the ear muff in position;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 6-6 of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the mounting of the ear muif clip and its supporting rail;

Figure 8 is a view corresponding to Figure 7 and illustrating a modified construction; and

Figure 9 illustrates still another embodiment of the present invention.

Reference may now be be had more particularly to the drawing wherein like reference numerals designate like parts throughout.

In the drawing there is indicated at 1 a conventional cap having a visor 2 and a pair of ear muff assemblies 33 each of which is swingable from a position occupied when in use, as indicated by full lines, to a position occupied when not in use, as indicated by the dotted lines. Insofar as is illustrated in Figure 1 this is a conventional cap, the entire novelty residing in the manner of mounting the ear muff assemblies 3 on the cap.

The cap 1 has the usual bottom rim 6 formed by folding the bottom of the outer cap cloth 7 inwardly, as indicated at 8, around a flexible reenforcing strip 9 of slightly stilf fabric, such as, for instance, canvas or starched sack cloth, or the like, as by upper and lower rows of stitching 10 and 11. The reenforcing strip preferably extends around the entire perimeter of the head-receiving opening in the cap, as is standard in caps.

Metal ear mufi supporting brackets 15 are provided, one for each ear muif. Each bracket includes a short strip or base portion 16 from which extends upwardly a stem 17 that terminates in a rail 18 extending generally parallel to the strip 16 and beyond one end thereof. The strip 16 and the rail 18 are curved to conform somewhat to the curvature of the head of a person wearing the cap 1. The strip 16 is positioned against the inner face of the outwardly folded end 12 of a cloth lining 25. The folded portions 8 and 12, respectively, of the outer cloth 7 and cloth lining 25 are in engagement with one another. The strip 16 is secured in place in any desired manner, either by stitches through eyelets 19 or, as indicated in the drawing, by a pair of rivets 20 that pass through the eyelets, the heads of each of which rivets are respectively on the inside of the folded end 12 of the lining 25 and the outside of the folded over cloth 7. The strip 16 is of a length of the order of one inch, or just sufficient to hold against twisting. The stem 17 extends through a slot 22 that is formed in the cloth of the cap so that the rail 18 is on the outside of the cap. The rail 18 constitutes a slidable support for the ear muff, as will be presently set forth. The cloth lining 25 is stitched to the rim 6 by the line of stitching 11, which liner 25 conceals the heads of the rivets on the inside of the cap and provides the usual finishing for the inside of the cap.

The ear muff assembly 3 includes a spring metal clip 30 that has an outwardly facing channel or O-shaped slide 31 pivoted thereto by a pivot pin comprising a rivet 32 that secures the channel shaped slide to the clip and permits relative turning of the clip about the rivet as a center. The ends of the slide 31 are turned inwardly to form upper and lower flanges 34-35 which define a slide channel. The flanges embrace the upper and lower edges of the rail 18 and are slidable thereon. After the slide 31 has been positioned on the rail 18 a rivet 36 is passed through an eyelet at the end of the rail 18, said rivet then constituting a stop for the channel slide 31 to prevent that slide from being moved off of the rail. The slide is, however, freely slidable along the rail.

The clip 30 is a standard clip constituting a standard part of the ear muff, as is well known in the art. In one well known construction, herein illustrated, the spring clip 30 has a U-shaped bend 38 to form a socket in which the rim of the ear mulf may be pivoted, as is well known. The ear muff of the present construction consists of a body of fur, wool, cloth or the like the periphery of which is clinched between inner and outer metal hoops 39--39, the inner hoop of which has an inwardly projecting portion 40. Adjacent the inner end of the projecting portion there is formed a slot 41 for {leceiving the U-shaped bend 38, all as is well known in e art.

As stated previously, the rail 18 is curved along an are that conforms in general with the curvature of the head of a person wearing the cap. In using the cap the channel slide 31 of each ear muff is slid along its rail 18 until the ear muffs are brought a proper distance apart and in the proper position with respect to the ears of the wearer of the cap. Thereafter the slide 31 is left in its adjusted position and the ear mufis can be pivoted about the rivets 32 between a position of use and a position of non-use as required.

It is apparent from the above description that there is no metal band extending along the back of the cap from ear to ear. As a result the back of the cap is free to conform with the precise shape of the back of the head of the wearer of the cap.

In Figure 8 there is shown a modified construction wherein the bracket 15', which corresponds to the bracket 15, has a rail 18' that corresponds to the rail 18 of Figure 7. This rail 18' has a longitudinally extending slot 45. The clip 30' has a rivet 32' which has rivet heads at the opposite ends thereof. The shank of the rivet 32 extends through the slot 45 and is free to slide therein and to rotate therein so that the clip 30' can be shifted along the rail with the shank of the rivet 32' moving in a direction lengthwise of the slot to locate the clip 30' in any desired position with respect to the rail, and once in that position the clip is freely rotatable about the rivet 32 as a center in the same manner as the clip 30 is rotatable about the rivet 32 of Figure 7. In other respects the bracket 75 is similar to the bracket 15 in the embodiment of Figs. 1-7.

In Figure 9 there is shown an alternate construction wherein the slidability of the ear mufi is dispensed with but the construction is such that the ear mutt is still rotated from its position of non-use to its position of use about an axis substantially above the bottom rim 6 of the cap so that the rim 6 can'be pulled down on the head as low as possible, with the top of the ears of the wearer on the outside of the rim 6 and with the ear muffs still adjusted from the position of use to the position of nonuse. In this case the clip 30" is pivoted by the rivet 32 to a bracket 15" that corresponds functionally with the bracket 15. The bracket 15" is of an inverted T-shape and includes a strip 16" from which extends upwardly a flange 17" to which the clip 30" is pivotally secured by the rivet 32".

In each of the embodiments of the present invention herein illustrated the ear muff is mounted substantially above the bottom rim 6 of the cap for the purpose of permitting the bottom of the cap to be drawn down as far as possible and yet leave the ears on the outside of the cap. If this advantage of the present invention is not desired the bracket of Figure 7 or of Figure 8 could omit the stem 17 and the rail 18 or 18' and in lieu thereof the bracket would consist merely of the strip of metal 16 or 16'. The slide 31 would then be mounted on that strip 16 or, in the embodiment illustrated in Figure 8, the slot would be located in the portion 16' of the bracket between the eyelets 19--19' for receiving the rivet 32' that pivots the clip 30' in place.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes I have here shown and described a few preferred embodiments of my invention. It is, however, to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise constructions here shown, the same being merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. What I consider new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A cap having a fold along the bottom forming a rim, a pair of brackets secured to the opposite inner side of the cap at the fold, each of said brackets having a stem extending upwardly and at right angles therefrom through the body of the cap to the outside thereof, a rail integral with and extending from each stem and substantially parallel to the rim, a slidable member slidable on the rail, means for preventing the slidable member from sliding ofi of each rail, a pair of ear muff mounting clips, and means pivotally securing each ear mufi mounting clip to one of the slidable members, said ear muir' clips being adapted to detachably receive an ear muff.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,442,825 Rabushka. June 8, 1948 

